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07 July 2008

There is a 15-20 per cent drop in campus recruitment from second tier engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu this year. According to officials in-charge of placement, such as Mr S. Ganapathy of SRM Engineering College, recruiting companies attribute the decline to the recession in the US as well as “poor quality” of students.

This year, companies have stringent qualification norms for reduced intake of students to offset the 30-40 per cent buffer (of students) created from last year’s recruitment, said an official of a leading software company. Much of the campus recruitment happens in June; students join the companies next year.

Also seen is a drop in the number of companies visiting the campus this year, said Mr Ganapathy. In June only six companies visited the college compared to 30 last year. Out of the 1,800 students, only half of them were placed this year during the first month of recruitment compared with 1,200 last year. Tata Consultancy Services took 441 students compared with 538 last year, he said.

Infosys did not go to SRM this year. A few companies, including Keane, postponed their visits.

CrescentEngineeringCollege saw a 15 per cent drop in placements. In the last couple of years companies took a number of ‘non-performers,’ but axed them later. This year only the best are being recruited, says the college’s placement officer, Mr Mohamed Tajudeen. Only half of the 423 students got placements. TCS recruited 115 students compared with 185 last year. However, Infosys increased its number to 105 this year from 70 last year, he said.

Quality check

There was a 20 per cent drop in campus recruitment at Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore. Out of the 630 students 374 got placements. Only 13 companies visited the campus this year compared with 18 last year, said its placement officer Prof D. Lakshmanan. “Only quality students get opportunity,” he said.

“It is time for testing the quality of students,” said Prof B.T. Maran, Placement Officer, SSN group of institutions promoted by Mr Shiv Nadar of HCL Group. The college placed 85 per cent of its students in various companies, including Cognizant that took 246 students (highest in private engineering college) and Infosys that took 92 students. HCL took only 13 students as against 60 last year, he said.

Students passing out of newer relevant courses like bio-technology and microbiology are becoming sought after. With healthcare and life-sciences becoming a key industry segment for large IT and BPO companies, students passing out of these courses are being lapped up, according to an official of a US-based software company.

This year more multinational companies such as Accenture and Capgemini are visiting premier campuses. In fact, Accenture has got a slot ahead of Infosys at AnnaUniversity, he said.